French financial regulators allowed tobacco shops to sell small amounts of bitcoin starting next year, according to a major local publication Europe 1.
It is reported that an agreement has been reached last week between the French Federation of Tobacco Shops and the Bank of France. Starting from January 1, 2019, 3,000–4,000 tobacco shops will be equipped with software which will allow their customers to buy bitcoin. There are a total of 27,000 points in the country that can receive the necessary software later. It's assumed that the sale of bitcoins will be carried out in fixed amounts of €50, €100 and €250.
Europe 1 claims that the regulator took this step because it realized that it has no other way out due to the large interest of the country's population in crypto. In this regard, it was decided to take control of the digital assets trade and, as a practical measure, to empower the French Federation of tobacco shops with the appropriate authority.
This decision is also politically motivated, portal Chepicap says. Earlier it became known that local authorities may raise the cost of cigarettes to €10 per pack within several years and fear that industry representatives may organize a strike. Thus, they can expect to defuse the situation by giving an additional source of income to tobacco shops in the form of cryptocurrency trading.
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